Islamic Classes in Arabic

Shaykh Hafiz Muddassir teaches Quran, Dars e Nizami and the Arabic sciences in Arabic, one-to-one and live, to students worldwide. He is a graduate of Tanzeem ul Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat (Pakistan) with more than ten years teaching these books.

Instruction is available in English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic, and the student chooses. For families abroad this usually decides everything: a child raised in London or Toronto may speak Urdu at home and still be unable to follow a technical grammar lesson in it, because conversational fluency and academic fluency are different things. Teaching the same classical material in the language the student thinks in removes that barrier without simplifying the content. Fees are quoted per student rather than published. A trial class follows a short conversation, so the family can judge the fit before committing to anything.

Why the language of instruction matters

A student can be fluent in conversation and lost in a lesson. Technical study demands abstract vocabulary, precise definitions and sustained reasoning, and those sit in whichever language a person was educated in.

For the generation raised outside Urdu-speaking countries that language is almost always English. Teaching them classical sciences through Urdu asks them to learn two difficult things at once and hides the harder one.

This page covers this in more detail.

Teaching background

Shaykh Hafiz Muddassir studied the classical curriculum the traditional way, through Tanzeem ul Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat (Pakistan), and has spent more than ten years teaching it.

He also completed an MA in English, an MA in English Linguistics and an MPhil in English, which is why the same classical material can be delivered in English at full depth rather than in a simplified version.

Instruction is available in English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic.

What a class looks like

A session opens with revision of the previous lesson, moves to new material, and closes by setting specific practice before the next class. For memorisation students the three-part structure of new lesson, recent revision and long-term revision runs every session.

In a one-to-one class the whole hour follows one student. In a small group each student reads aloud and is corrected in turn, which adds the useful pressure of being heard by peers.

Class length and frequency are set to suit the student, commonly two to five sessions a week for language or memorisation work, fewer for adults reading a single text.

How does scheduling work across timezones?

Classes are arranged around the student’s local clock. Teaching hours stretch across the day precisely so that a student in California, London or Melbourne is not forced into an unusable slot.

In practice this means after-school classes for children, and evening or early-morning sessions for working adults. British and European students have the easiest overlap; American and Canadian students are taught in their evenings, which fall in the teacher’s early morning.

This page sets out the workable windows by region.

Is this suitable for children?

Yes, and children are a large share of the students. Classes for younger children are kept short and interactive, because attention rather than ability is the limiting factor at that age.

The common failure with children is not slow progress but lost interest, usually caused by classes pitched at the wrong level or scheduled when the child is exhausted. Both are fixable, and one-to-one teaching makes them visible early.

This page deals with the age question directly.

What do classes cost?

Fees are quoted for each student rather than published as a price list, because the honest figure depends on the course, how many classes a week and the level involved. A child taking two Qaida sessions weekly and an adult reading advanced Arabic texts are not the same commitment.

For general context rather than as a quotation: Across online Islamic academies generally, tuition is priced either per class hour or as a monthly block of two to five classes a week, and one-to-one teaching costs more than group classes because the hour belongs to one student. Local currency, timezone and class length all shift the picture, which is why a real number needs the real details.

Message the student’s age, level and how often you would like to study, and you will get a straight answer for that situation. This page covers the question in more detail.

How do you start?

The first step is a conversation, not a payment. Send a message describing the student, their level and what you want them to reach, and you will get an assessment of where they should actually begin.

A trial class follows if it makes sense. It exists so the student and teacher can meet, so the level can be checked properly rather than assumed, and so the family can judge the teaching style before committing.

If a different course would serve the student better, you will be told that. This page explains what happens in a trial.

Growing up Muslim outside a Muslim country

Second-generation students occupy an awkward position: fluent in the language of their country, partly fluent in their parents’ language, and rarely literate in either at the level classical study demands.

That is not a deficiency in the student. It is a mismatch between how the tradition is transmitted and where these families now live, and it is solvable by changing the medium rather than the content.

This page addresses this directly.

What this site does not claim

There are no student numbers, star ratings or testimonials published here, because none have been collected and verified yet. When real students give feedback it will appear with their first name, country and what they studied.

Qualifications are stated exactly as they are: the Dars e Nizami curriculum through Tanzeem ul Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat (Pakistan), an MA in English, an MA in English Linguistics and an MPhil in English, and more than ten years teaching these books. Nothing beyond that is implied.

Questions of Islamic law are not decided on this site. Pages explain what a science is and how it is studied; contested rulings belong with a qualified scholar who can hear the specifics of a case.

The teaching method

Three things happen in every class: revision of the last lesson, new material, and the student explaining the new material in their own words. The third is where understanding is tested rather than assumed.

Classical teaching is oral for a reason. Parsing errors and misplaced emphasis are audible, and a teacher hears them in the moment rather than discovering them in an exam months later.

Practice between classes matters more than class length. Fifteen focused minutes daily beats an hour of cramming the night before, for grammar and memorisation alike.

Placing a student correctly

A short conversation and a trial class settle it. The teacher asks the student to demonstrate rather than describe, because describing your own level is genuinely difficult and most people get it wrong in one direction or the other.

Where a student needs to go back a stage, that is said plainly and with a reason attached. It is not a judgement on the student; gaps usually come from how they were taught rather than from ability.

The upside of correct placement is that progress becomes visible quickly, which is what keeps a student studying.

What happens between classes

Every session ends by setting specific practice, not a vague instruction to revise. Specific means a named passage, a defined table, or a page to parse.

Adults with demanding jobs often do better than teenagers with more free time, purely because they protect a small daily slot instead of relying on motivation. The habit matters more than the hour it sits in.

Where practice is not happening, that shows up in the next class, and the honest response is to adjust the plan rather than pretend the material was covered.

Can adults start from the beginning?

Yes, and a large share of students here are adults starting over. Many read the Quran as children, stopped for two decades, and return wanting to understand rather than only recite.

Adults learn differently from children rather than worse. They grasp grammatical structure faster because they already understand how language works, and they memorise more slowly. Playing to the first while planning around the second is what an experienced teacher adjusts for.

The genuine obstacle is embarrassment, not ability. A one-to-one class removes the audience entirely, which is why adult beginners often start there and move to a group later.

Can sisters study these courses?

Yes. Sisters study the same curriculum one-to-one from home, at whatever pace their week allows, through the six-year course.

The two barriers sisters most often report are travel and mixed classes. Online one-to-one removes both, which is why the format has changed access to classical study more for women than for anyone else.

Scheduling is arranged around household and work commitments rather than fixed institutional hours, and it moves when those commitments move.

Frequently asked questions

Can the same course be taught in a different language?

Yes. English, Urdu, Hindi or Arabic, and the choice can change if the student finds another clearer.

Is English-medium teaching simplified?

No. The same books and the same depth, delivered in English rather than Urdu.

What if the student is more comfortable mixing languages?

That is common and entirely workable in one-to-one teaching.

Do you teach Arabic through Arabic?

For students ready for it, yes. Most begin with explanation in English or Urdu and move across.

How do we decide which language suits?

The trial class settles it quickly. Comprehension under questioning shows which language the student actually reasons in.

Last reviewed 29 July 2026 by Shaykh Hafiz Muddassir.